Radley Balko on race and gun laws

Among other things, he discusses a form of "sting" which has become very popular, and given rise to the concept of "sentencing entrapment." It goes like this: Federal agents recruit an informant and send him out. He tells others that he knows where there is a drug stash house, and he wants to form a gang to rip it off. The house and drugs actually exist only in his imagination. Others agree to join him. He specifies that one or more of them must bring a gun.

Then they charge everyone except the informant with conspiracy -- not to rob, but to possess the drugs for sale (since in any noteworthy quantity, possession for sale carries higher penalties than armed robbery). Since a gun was involved, the charges tack on penalties for that -- 5-10 years consecutive, without probation. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for drug offenses go up steeply with the quantities involved, and since the drug stash house exists only in the informant's imagination, he is free to invent any amount supposedly to be found that, and thus increase the sentences as far as he desires.

One judge (I think it was Posner) has pointed out that the effect of these stings is to protect drug stash houses, which seems a bit paradoxical.

And of course there was no need for the 18th amendment to allow the federal government the power to ban booze.

The feds DO NOT have constitutional police power to have any of these criminal laws. The feds have police powers in about 6 areas, all explicitly granted.

Some will try to claim the N&P implies the authority BUT that logic fails. If the N&P implies anything, rather than actually being a limitation on legislation, then at least half of the explicitly granted powers did not need to be granted. Those who think the N&P implies other related powers are stating the Framers were too stupid to know what they had and had not allowed. IF the N&P attaches related powers such as police powers then the explicit police powers over piracy and counterfeiting are superfluous. No interpretation of one clause of the Constitution is valid if it causes another clause to be unnecessary. But then those who think the N&P is expansive have trouble with the English language and proper grammar, something the Committee on Style did not have.

All those folks, back to the very first, punished by the feds for any activity not under the granted police powers should be given full pardons and restitution for the illegal acts of the government.

As stated in Story and many others, the police powers were left to the states.